Be careful how you use your anchor text for your hyperlinks, Google changes back and forth on this every few algorithm updates, so will have to keep an eye on your Google Analytics for changes in page rankings. I have found that “Click Here”, or something similar seems to be safe as long as your primary or secondary keywords are in the same sentence as the hyper link.

When you are linking to outside sites, it is important to make sure that those sites are not only relevant, but also reputable sites.  Just because the content on the site you are linking to looks like it is a good fit to your site does not mean that there is a lot of garbage within that site.  You have to do some exploring when you are linking to new, or unknown sites.

Headings Tags – H1, H2 tags

A big part of keeping your visitors engaged and on your site for a longer period of time is how your pages look.  This is where the Heading Tags come in.  These are the H1, H2 and occasionally the H3 tags are used.  They break up your content, they draw the readers eye to the next main point and keep them scrolling down the page and staying on your website.

When you use the Heading Tags, the H1 tag is ONLY used once on the page, for the page heading at the very top.  Your primary keyword phrase must be in the H1 tag so the search engines know what this page is going to be about.  The page content must have the keyword phrase in the page content as well.  Just make sure that you do not use the primary keyword phrase too much, or Google might think you are keyword spamming.

The H2 tag is used throughout the page to break up the content and to introduce the reader to another major point, or thought.  The H2 tag should contain the secondary keywords that you will be using on your webpage.  If the Heading Tag is only going to be used to introduce a new topic to thought, but you will not be using a keyword phrase in it, then use the H3 tag.

Meta Tags – Title and Description

While this is not seen by your site visitors, it is very important to have your primary keyword phrase in your page title and page description.  The search engines read both of these tags and then they compare the content to the H1 and H2 tags, and the page content on your webpage to get an idea of what the page is really about.  If your primary keyword phrase is not in either of these two tags, then the search engines will look at your content and try to figure out what the page is about.  This can lead to some confused website visitors and a very high bounce rate.

Above the Fold

One of the most important parts of your webpage is the first paragraph.  Your first paragraph must contain your primary keyword, but the first paragraph must also hook, or engage your reader.  It helps to set the tone for rest of the webpage. Your goal is to create a quality website page that will engage your readers and hold their attention so that they will spend more time on your page and go into your website for more useful information.

Next, you want to make sure that there is information “above the fold” or the part of the webpage that is visible in the browser when you first go to the page.  There should not be any ads in this part of the webpage, make sure they are lower down and only visible when the reader scrolls down.

Google wants information, not ads visible when you first land on a webpage. This is very important, several years ago Google integrated an “above the fold” penalty for websites that did not have relevant information, or content above the fold.  People were making great pages for the search engines, but not for the site visitors and Google came down hard on these sites.

You need Quality, Engaging Content

You need to write informative content that will keep your readers attention.  This is where you help your reader to solve their problem.  Everything that you write should be about identifying and solving problems, not preaching to people.  Your visitor already knows what their situation is, they came to your site to find help, a solution to their problem.  Your website should be the resource that gives them their solution.

To do that, you need to give them relevant information in a way that keeps their attention and is easy to read.

• Always use short paragraphs
• Keep your sentences short
• Use the Heading Tags to introduce new thoughts, or to make a point
• Use bullets, or numbers to make points

Never talk about yourself, keep your story and experiences for your biography, or “About Me” page and link to that in the article, or webpage with an appropriate sentence. You may have experienced what they are going through, and it may be very relevant, but you can give a very descriptive story about your situation and experiences on your About Me page better than you could cover in a few paragraphs in a webpage.

Building a Social Media Following

One of the primary reasons for writing engaging, problem solving content is to build a strong social media following.  If you have done a great job of solving problems and providing relevant information, you will gain Facebook and other social media followers.  The more social media followers you get, the stronger your sites Domain Authority becomes and your site will climb in the search results.

Your goal is not just to create a site that is ranked very well in the search engines, but to have a strong social media following.  There are some sites that do not even bother with search engines because they have such a huge social media presence.  Every time they add content, it is sent out to their social media followers where it is shared with other social media followers that only know you through someone that they trust. The recommendation of a trusted friend is far stronger than any search engine result.

Writing Your Content

Always take your time when you are doing your research, writing and editing. Make sure that you keep track of the website URLs of the sites that gave you the best information.  You will want to link to these sites within your article. Make sure the topic that you are writing about is relevant to your overall website, do not go off topic. Become a specialist in your area of knowledge, the expert that everyone wants to go to.

Your readers will reward your hard work and dedication by staying on the page and maybe exploring your website.  This will give you a lower bounce rate and a stronger social media following when the readers “Like” the page and share it with their friends. If you have a newsletter, you will gain readers that are eager for your next article.

Making sure the article is going to be set up properly for the search engines and making sure that it flows well and reads well for your visitors is going to take a little while to get used to. This is little bit of an art form, but after a few articles, it becomes very easy to incorporate the SEO into the writing of the article. This is where the heading Tags, the introductory paragraph, the anchor text in your hyperlinks and your keyword phrases, all come together.

You want to focus on generating, regular, quality content for your website. It is very important to establish a schedule to do this.  You may want to create content weekly, or every two weeks.  If you are not knowledgeable about your chosen topic yet, then every two weeks probably a good starting point.  The hardest part is going to be the research.  Writing the article is going to be fairly straightforward.

I am going to end this article with a link to a site that tracks all of the major Google Algorithm changes. Google makes around 500 algorithm changes per year, sometimes they change several times a day. If you are a webmaster, it is important to keep on top of these changes and to check your Google Analytics account and Google and Bing webmaster accounts for any changes to your websites traffic when the updates roll out.